Disgraced public relations expert Max Clifford has been handed out an eight-year jail sentence at the Southwark Crown Court today after his conviction on eight counts of indecent assault, The Irish Times said. The 71 year-old is reportedly the first individual who has been convicted under Operation Yewtree, a sex crime investigation. Clifford was charged of assaulting four women between the years 1977 and 1984.
It has not been easy for Clifford, whose clients had long been distancing themselves from the veteran agent following the scandal, the report said. Clifford expressed his dismay with the verdict and insisted that all allegations against him are all false. He reportedly branded the prosecution as a nightmare and called his accusers fantasists.
The jury who has heard his case consisted of six men and four women as two of the jurors were discharged separately early in the trial, The Irish Times said. The jury had acquitted him on two other counts, and was unable to reach a verdict on a third count. The two counts Clifford was cleared of were allegations of him forcing his way on a woman in his central London offices in 1975 and of groping a woman in a tax cab in 1978. The jury was undecided on the allegation that he had groped a woman in his car after meeting him in a bar in south London in 1966.
Prosecutors in Clifford's trial had portrayed him as a skilled manipulator, who has allegedly lured victims to engage in sexual favors with promises to boost their careers and meetings with celebrities. Moreover, Clifford purportedly offered the victims casting appointments by pretending he was one of the many Hollywood bigwigs over the phone. It was noted in court that Clifford had bragged to his victims on how he has a tiny penis.
